I have asked myself this question many times and know I have both failed and succeeded. Pleasing the Master is something I hold dear too but all too often can get caught up in the action of doing rather than the place of being. There is quite a fine line, isn’t there? As humans, we typically don’t ‘wait’ well, feeling like we must do something to spur God into action. It pains us to see our circumstances seemingly swallow us up while God sits back and doesn’t do anything. I have found, however, this is exactly when He is doing the most work but I either can’t or won’t see it. And it is in these times, we are looking more through our fleshly eyes than our spiritual ones.
Pursuing intimacy with Jesus is my hope. At times, however, I find myself too buried in the pursuit of Him instead of merely being with Him. It’s an action that has plagued generations before me as well. I don’t just want to know about the Lord, I want to KNOW HIM. And so subtle is the difference! Lately, God has brought to mind many times where my pursuit of learning more about Him and His word took precedence over truly knowing Him, His character, His very being. Now, I know that I cannot fully grasps the depths of His reasoning’s for He is so much grander than I, larger than my small concept of life and so above the feeble attempts I make in thought. But, such a relief that is!
Blind trust is not something most folks can do easily. Believing God has that better way ahead is easy to agree with in the beginning but when things don’t happen in a certain order or within our specified time frames, we get a little nervous. Am I hearing from God? Am I hearing myself instead? Questions of doubt plague our minds over and over again, sometimes to the point of abandoning the wait altogether somehow convinced we missed it. So often, we fall back on what is familiar and comfortable, trading what is new and unexpected for the traditions or teachings we have grown accustomed to. This safety zone is a threat to the very Life within us because it is during this time of waiting we develop a trust and utter desperate dependency on the Lord. Any hint of ourselves or own ability must be dealt with in contemplative prayer to the Lord. We must abandon our need to ‘do’ something (i.e. perform) and allow the Light of Christ to perfect us, to work within us as He sees fit. His will, after all, is our sole desire.
Pleasing the Lord never requires us to do something for Him. After all, He is God and needs not our help, our assistance or our input. I recall the words of Oswald Chambers warning us “Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him. It is easier to serve than to be drunk to the dregs. The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him.” How many times have you been told or taught that your loyalty to someone is measured by the amount your service? Hmm…works comes to mind here! I always thought my loyalty to Christ would be measured more by my love for Him than what I can do for Him. He doesn’t need anything from me. He does, however, ask for my life, my love, my will, everything there is about me – after all, He first gave all of that to me so that I could truly live. And I am so thankful for that!
One other thought that comes to mind is about misplaced loyalty. Some would argue Christian’s are to be loyal to their families, their friends, their Pastor, their Church but rarely does one hear a calling to be loyal only to Christ. Now, while all being loyal to all of those people may be a good thing, I would argue it that it completes directly with our loyalty to Christ. His word clearly says that you cannot serve both God and man.
No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely).
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